Black youth both young men and women are beingkilled, their lives seemingly have no valuable.Just another statistic for vital statistics and crimereports and another one or two minute sound bitefor news media.Young men like Trayvon Martin (Sanford, Florida),Ervin Jefferson (Atlanta, Ga.), 20-year-old KendrecLavelle McDade (Azus), 18 year-old Ramarley Graham(New York City) taken away by violent deaths.Violence, claiming the lives of those who should havepromising futures ahead of them, young men andwomen have fallen at the hands of those who havesworn to protect and serve the community, but insteadhave caused chaos, sorrow and pain.

Black fathers, grandfathers, uncles and stepfathers arehard pressed to teach young Black men and a growingnumber of Black women survival skills to keep themfrom being targets and victims.

President Barack Obama has challenged more Black fathersto step up and take on the responsibility to teachtheir children. Even though he is the President he hasexperienced disrespect, curses and hatred is shown to himbecause of his color. Racism is not dead…

President Obama has even made the statement thatTrayvon Martin could be his son. What a testament for aplea for change.

The excuse that Black youth are trouble makers becausethey have no fathers does not count in the case of TrayvonMartin because there is an involved father. The excusethat Black children are all in poverty is not true from thelifestyle of the Martin family. They are not welfarerecipients, nor on food stamps, but some in society auto-matically think they are, this mentality must change.

In the United States of America Black young mentime lines are slowly diminishing; devaluing to a pointof unimportance. Across this country more young Blackmen and young Black women are being gunned down.Fathers, the teaching to our sons and now daughtersshould go beyond riding a bike, attending church, dating,drugs and sex. Fathers have to teach their children lessonsof life, the lessons of survival, how to stay alive when thereare those who do not value them as they should. Fathers,the responsibility to speak to children is more importantnow more than ever.

Personal FearsTrue fathers have fear for our sons and now forour daughters. Attending the Daddy Daughter Dance 2012I see loving and involved fathers. This needs to grow and beconsistent.

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/400553/william-jackson/2012-02-27/d...The dance shows that fathers are involved and there are moreBlack fathers involved than would be imagined by society.Fathers fear that their children may die before they doeither at the hands of an overzealous service revolver orthe hands of someone who looks like them. Our young menand women should be searching for a cure to cancer, diabetes,heart defects, fighting poverty, working to end hungerand other social challenges.

Fathers now must teach sons and daughters to look overtheir shoulder, how to talk to law enforcement officers, to bemindful that some see them as less than a man or women.Be careful who you hang with and who you associate or callfriends.

Black youth should be concentrating on graduating highschool and planning their futures, not having parents planningfunerals.

There is EvidenceThe evidence is visible in the media and seen on our streets.Young Black men and women’s lives are at risk, whenmen do not take the time to teach their children how toconduct themselves in public, pull up their pants, talkrespectfully to adults, respect authority and act withintelligence and pride, they set their children up for failure.When Black children are successful in school, in their churches,earning honors for academic excellence and achievementthey are not acting white, or the other demeaning terms used forbeing respectful, educated and career oriented.

Young men and women that act like thugs and gansta’s will betreated as such and subjected to actions that may prove deadly, butthis mentality is transferred to all young Black men and women.Young men must be willing to change their mentalities andactions. Not to change who they are, but to change the perceptionsof society. Too many Black youth are not prepared to grow mentally,socially and spiritually. To many think it is cool to be uneducatedliving on welfare. Parents should not teach their children that a“Food Stamp” life is a good life.

Teachers can’t teach social responsibility and accountability,the government can’t teach it, the media can’t teach it,but fathers and mothers can and must teach the value of education.If a greater number of families are involved in their children’s livescrime would be down, education would be a priority and more Blackyouth, our young men and women would have more direction and purpose.

ConclusionThe reality is there is a lack of fatherly presence inBlack homes; it affects communities, schoolsand churches. It is past time for more fathers tostand up and make a commitment to their communities.

Fathers must remember that there are several institutionsthat want Black children Educational and Institutional, it is upto parents to direct their children to the correct institution.Statistics and data do not lie, they can be manipulated, but factsare facts. It is up to parents to direct children to educationalinstitutions, vocational schools, career choices, valuable careeroptions. Steering youth away from the institutions of incarcer-ation and death.

Parents must know their children’s friends and associates, because theysometimes do not have your child’s best interests.Trayvon Martin is a wake up call for all of us to the travesty ofBlack youth being murdered. The Trayvon Martin story is not thefirst, but parents must work hard to make it the last..